3D Multiple Attenuation and Depth Imaging of Ocean Bottom Seismic Data

In 3D Ocean Bottom seismic surveys (3D-OBS) both pressure and vertical particle velocity is recorded. This presents the opportunity to decompose the recorded wavefields in up- and down-going components and apply to 3D common receivers gathers a designature/demultiple algorithm to attenuate free surface multiples. This single processing step replaces several steps in conventional processing usually encompassing τ-p predictive deconvolution and Radon demultiple. Using a 3D-OBS data set from the Gullfaks Sør field in the North Sea, the new 3D designature/demultiple approach, together with 3D common receiver depth migration, is shown to result in seismic images of better quality than by the traditional processing sequence.